52 protected by the Convention.198. In other words, the States not only have the positive obligation to adopt the legislative measures necessary to guarantee the exercise of the rights established in the Convention but must also avoid enacting laws that prevent the free exercise of those rights and eliminating or amending laws that protect them. 199 In short, “the State must adopt the measures necessary to make effective the exercise of the rights and freedoms recognized in the Convention.”200 188. Below, the Court will analyze the alleged violation of Article 2 of the Convention, in relation to Articles 21, 8, and 25 of the same, regarding (i) the alleged lack of a procedure to delimit, demarcate, and title and protect the lands, and (ii) the regulations on the prior, free, and informed consultation. B.1. Procedure to delimit, demarcate, and title the lands 189. Regarding the State’s obligation to delimit, demarcate, and title the lands of the indigenous peoples, the Court has previously stated that, at least since the Law on Agrarian Reform of 1974 came into force, which defined the right to property of said peoples, and subsequently when the Honduran Constitution of 1982 came into force acknowledging their rights regarding their lands, there was an obligation to delimit and demarcate the territories of indigenous and tribal communities within Honduras’ domestic legislation. 190. Likewise, it is undoubtable that at least since the year 1996, when Convention 169 of the ILO when into force for Honduras, 12 months after its ratification (supra para. 119), the State had an international obligation to define a procedure that would regulate the delimitation, demarcation, and titling of the lands in favor of the indigenous and tribal peoples, to guarantee their effective enjoyment. 191. The Court verified that the State referred to the fact that the “National Agrarian Institute (INA), executing entity of the agrarian policy,” is who “carries out actions oriented to the recognition of the communities’ indigenous [and traditional] lands” and briefly made mention to the procedure for the delimitation and demarcation without referring to the applicable legislation. In this sense, it verified that the Law on Agrarian Reform of 1974 refers to the titling of indigenous and tribal lands and to the verification of the boundaries of plots not necessarily indigenous or tribal. 201 Additionally, the Law on Property refers, among others, to a “regularization” process that could include the delimitation and titling of lands in general terms.202 Cfr. Case of Genie Lacayo v. Nicaragua. Merits, Reparations, and Costs. Judgment of January 29, 1997. Series C No. 30, para. 51, and Case of López Lone et al. v. Honduras. Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations, and Costs. Judgment of October 5, 2015. Series C No. 302, para. 213. 198 199 Cfr. Case of Chocrón Chocrón v. Venezuela, para. 140, and Case of López Lone et al v. Honduras, para. 213. Case of the Las Dos Erres Massacre v. Guatemala. Preliminary Objection, Merits, Reparations, and Costs. Judgment of November 24, 2009. Series C No. 211, para. 240. 200 Article 92 of said Law states that: “[t]he ethnic communities that prove the occupation of the lands where they are settled, for a period of at least three years […] will receive the property deeds in full ownership without cost, issued by the National Agrarian Institute within the time period stated in Article 15 [of the stated Law].” Additionally, among others, Article 152 of the same Law refers to the verification of the boundaries of plots, although not specifically on indigenous lands, indicating that: “[t]he National Agrarian Cadastral Registry will examine the titles and blueprints of the rural plots of any domain and will carry out the verifications and revisions of the extension and boundaries of private, national, and common lands, as well as of autonomous and semi-autonomous institutions.” 201 Article 72 of the same law states that: “[t]he regularization process will include the following stages: 1 Declaration of an irregular plot registered in the cadaster; 2 Declaration of Regularization: which determines the legal nature, delimitation, and extension of the area subject to regularization; 3 Census Survey: Socioeconomic survey of the residents; 4 Appointment of facilitators of the regularization process by the community; 5 Definition of the titling form: individual, collective, or combined by part of the community benefited, 6 Application of the regularization mechanisms defined in this title; 7 Payment of compensation in the event of expropriation; and, 8 Titling and 202